Italo-Greek War
On 28 October 1940, Benito Mussolini seeking to establish complete Italian control in the Mediterranean, launched the invasion of Greece. Benito Mussolini and his generals anticipated a quick victory, but the Greeks—who had already begun mobilizing in secrecy—resisted bravely, derailing the Italian 9th Army under General Visconti Prasca, and pushed the invaders back into Albania. During the winter period in the Albanian mountains, the campaign settled into a bloody stalemate. In the spring the reinforced Italians armies under General Ugo Cavallero launched Operation Primavera, but failed. General Cavallero launched a new counteroffensive in March 1941 but the Italo-Greek War was soon overshadowed by Operation Marita, the successful German invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece. Italian 9th Army The Italian 9th Army (comprising eight divisions, including one armoured division; up to 200, 000 men; and 250 tanks, 700 guns, and 400 warplanes) under the command of General Visconti Prasca invaded Greece from Albania, which Italy had occupied in 1939. Epirus Army In addition to border units, General Alexander Papagos had deployed on the Greek-Albanian frontier, two infantry divisions and two infantry brigades of the Epirus Army, comprising 27, 000 men, 20 tanks, 70 guns, and 36 warplanes. By 20 April 1941, it was clear that after six months of fighting the Greek forces could do no more than disrupt and slow the Italian advance in Albania. The Greek government agreed that the force should be evacuated for the defence of Greece. A number of units were cut off from the Greek retreat and left behind in Albania. Italian invasion On 28 October 1940, the Comando Supremo (Italian High Command), confident of a rapid invasion of Greece, launched an advance against Kastoria and Fiorina, planning to capture Epirus and occupy all of Greece. However, the Pindus Detachment under Colonel Konstantinos Davakis, taking advantage of the mountainous terrain put up stiff resistance and eventually stopped the Italian invasion on 14 November. Greek invasion On 5 November, fierce fighting took place on the lower slopes of Mount Morova and near Kalamas River. The Greeks counterattacked after withstanding an Italian armoured attack and an Italian counterattack against the 39th Evzones Regiment from Kalpaki also failed.30,000 ITALIANS HELD ENCIRCLED On 11 November, the reinforced Epirus Army comprising 12 infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions and three infantry brigades, entered Albanian territory, where they were supported by Albanian partisans. The Italian Supreme Command hastily brought in reinforcements and created the 11th Army to join the 9th Army as part of the Albania Group of Armies (comprising 27 divisions) under the command of General Ubaldo Soddu. Despite Italian superiority in equipment and elite reinforcements, the Greek troops advanced 25–60 kilometres into Albanian, after which the struggle took on a positional character. Only after German divisions captured the Metaxas Line in April 1941 was the Greek Army defeated. On 23 April 1941, General Tsolakoglu signed an act of surrender and armistice with Germany and Italy. British reinforcements At the start of the Second World War, Greece attempted to remain neutral but came under increasing pressure from Italy. In October 1940, Mussolini sent divisions from Albania into Greece. Britain dispatched a squadron of fighters to assist the Greeks, but Greek troops were already counter-attacking and driving the Italians back into Albania. After secret negotiations with the Germans in February 1941, the Greeks accepted that an Allied expeditionary force should be dispatched to defend Greece. This British Commonwealth force consisted mainly of Australians and New Zealanders transferred from Libya and Egypt, under the command of General Maitland Wilson. The first British units from North Africa arrived on 5 March 1941, its air support consisted of 200 aircraft (including reserves), against 800 German aircraft in the eastern European countries and 160 Italian in Albania and a further 150 based in Italy within range of Greece."The following day, the Greeks accepted the offer, whereon Britain dispatched some of its best North African forces to Greece: 60,000 men with 240 field artillery pieces, 32 medium artillery guns, 192 antiaircraft guns, and 142 tanks." Encyclopedia of World War II, Spencer Tucker, p. 633 , ABC-Clio, 2005 General Archibald Wavell, the victor of Operation Compass, regarded the decision to send reinforcements to Greece as a strategic error that prolonged the North African Campaign and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill admitted in September 1941 that it had been indeed been the wrong decision. German invasion It became increasingly clear that a German invasion of Greece was imminent. For Adolf Hitler, this decision was made to assist the Italians and protect the Romanian oilfields from the British and secure their southern flank for the planned invasion of Russia. Germany invaded Yugoslavia and northern Greece on 6 April 1941. Outnumbered in the air and along the Metaxas Liner the Greek and Allied forces were unable to deploy sufficient troops in any one area to halt the German and Italian advance. The campaign was also hindered by the failure of R-41, the 3rd Yugoslav Army's counteroffensive outside Skutari"Yugoslav 'human wave' attacks in Albania are reported to have been beaten back by Italian counterattacks along the 420-mile front. "For 48 hours the Serbs have been moving in wave upon wave through rain and snow against Scutari, on the southern shore of a lake of the same name, only to be mowed down by Fascist machine-gunners and scattered by Italian airmen, war front advices said." Serb Attacks Beaten Off By Italiansand the capture of Koritza in Albania"Their courage, like that of the defenders of the Metaxas line, was to no avail; as so often happens to troops occupying a static position in mobile warfare, the battle was being decided elsewhere … List now detached SS 'Adolf Hitler' from the main axis of advance of XXXXth corps and sent it forward in the direction of Koritsa. Far from counter-attacking, however, the demoralized Greeks gave way and thus allowed the Italians to occupy the town without resistance on 15 April. With 9th armoured division crossing the upper Aliakhmon and reaching Servia on the next day, the British forces on the Olympus found themselves surrounded on both flanks. following a decision made by Wilson three days earlier they now started falling back across Thessaly to Thermopylae, leaving in their wake 20,000 Greek troops who, being less well endowed with motor vehicles, failed to escape in time and were captured by the Germans." Martin van Crevald, Hitler's Strategy 1940-1941: The Balkan Clue, p. 162, Cambridge University Press, 1973"About 25 miles south of Lake Ochrid, Koritza is a road junction whence a road leads eastwards to Florina, hinge of the present British-Greek line confronting the Axis armies. Fast columns of Bersaglieri on motor cycles and in armored cars entered Koritza at 12.30 p.m. today and captured "numerous prisoners and arms of every kind including several batteries of cannon," it was claimed. " KORITZA TAKEN ITALIANS CLAIM Recapture of Important Albanian Town Announced at Rome, poor communications and the under-developed road and and rail system. Greek and Allied divisions began to fall back as the Germans moved rapidly through the country, occupying Salonika on 8 April. The evacuation of Allied forces from Greece began on 24 April and continued for a week. Despite a severe shortage of Allied shipping, more than 50,000 British, Australian, New Zealand and Greek troops in the form of the 5th Cretan Division were evacuated. Many escaped with the assistance of Greek Navy. All the tanks from the British 1st Armoured Division, heavy equipment and trucks were abandoned. Most of the troops were evacuated to Crete, but others went to Egypt. On 23 April the Greek Army surrendered. King George II of Greece and his government escaped to Crete. On 27 April 1941, German troops captured the Greek capital, Athens. Following the Greek surrender Germany, Italy and Bulgaria divided the country into 3 zones of occupation. German and Italy jointly occupied Athens. Category:1941 Category:1940